This invention generally relates to the field of transportation systems and, more specifically, relates to an airport parking communication system.
Many modem airports have perimeter parking lots where passengers park their vehicles while they travel to a remote destination and return. Many such parking lots are operated by commercial organizations, such as car rental and travel companies. The parking lots usually provide courtesy vans, or buses, for carrying customers from the perimeter parking lot to the airport, and from the airport to the perimeter parking lot. Transporting customers from the perimeter parking lot to the airport is relatively easy, because customers will congregate at the parking lot reception area located at the perimeter parking lot after parking their cars. However, knowing when to send a bus to pick a customer up at the airport and deliver them to the perimeter parking lot is considerably more difficult.
Previous systems and methods for determining when to pick a customer up at the airport have required customers to call the parking lot reception area to request a courtesy pick-up after they have arrived and collected their luggage. However, these systems require customers to transport their luggage to a telephone, make a telephone call, and wait for the courtesy bus to arrive. This process can be extremely burdensome and inconvenient for a customer. Accordingly, in light of these problems, there is a need for an airport communication system that can reduce the complexity of current parking lot notification systems and increase customer convenience.
The present invention solves the above-described problems by providing a method and system for providing customer arrival information to a parking lot attendant. According to an actual embodiment of the present invention, when a customer arrives at a parking lot, the customer is provided a radio frequency identification (xe2x80x9cRFIDxe2x80x9d) tag. The RFID tag contains information uniquely identifying the customer. For instance, the RFID tag may be encoded with a unique identification number or the customer""s name and vehicle slot number may be electronically written onto the RFID tag. This information is then stored in a parking system database. This occurs before the customer enters the courtesy bus for the terminal of the airport.
When the customer returns to the airport and gathers their luggage, the customer moves to an island that includes readers that read the information stored in the RFID tag carried by the customer. The information is transmitted to the parking lot, where an attendant dispatches a courtesy bus, or communicates with one already en route, and delivers the customer""s car to a delivery area. The customer need not take any other action than carrying the RFID tag to the island to be retrieved by a courtesy bus and have their car waiting for them at the parking lot.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a RFID encoding system is provided for encoding information uniquely identifying the owner of a vehicle on a RFID tag, such as a unique identification number or the customer""s name. Alternatively, the RFID encoding system may receive information identifying the location of a vehicle and encode this information on the RFID tag. Other information may also be encoded onto the RFID tag. This information is then stored in a parking system database. The encoded RFID tag is then issued to the customer.
An RFID interrogator is also provided in an embodiment of the present invention for decoding the information encoded on the RFID tag. The RFID interrogator is connected to one or more antennas mounted in an area where customers returning to the airport will congregate. The RFID interrogator is also connected to a computer for communicating with a base computer located at the remote parking lot. When a RFID tag is located proximately to the RFID interrogator and antennas, the RFID interrogator decodes the information encoded on the RFID tag and transmits this information to the base computer. The base computer then uses this information to dispatch a bus to retrieve the customer and return them to the parking lot where their vehicle is parked. The base computer may also locate the appropriate vehicle slot number and display this information to an attendant. The attendant may then use this information to retrieve the customer""s car. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the base computer transmits information regarding the arrival time of the next courtesy bus to the interrogator computer, which may then be displayed for the benefit of the customer.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an RFID interrogator is also placed proximate to the entrance of the parking lot. A customer is issued a RFID tag on their first visit to the parking lot that contains information uniquely identifying the RFID tag. When the customer returns to the parking lot on a subsequent trip, the RFID interrogator reads the information from the RFID tag as the customer enters the parking lot. The information contained in the RFID tag is then used to reference an entry in the parking system database relating to the customer. The database entry is updated to reflect that the customer has parked their car in that particular parking lot. When the customer returns to the airport, the RFID interrogator located at the airport reads the information from the customer""s RFID tag and transmits this information to the parking lot base computer. A display may be provided at the entrance to the parking lot to inform the customer, that their RFID tag has been correctly interrogated. The base computer then uses this information to dispatch a bus to retrieve the customer and return them to the parking lot where their vehicle is parked.